ENERGY STAR Plant Profile

The Seattle cement plant was originally constructed in 1929. It was constructed on reclaimed tidal areas, four miles south of Seattle near the south end of Harbor Island. The site was selected for its accessibility to deep water, rail and truck transportation. Since 1929, the plant has changed hands many times. It began operations as a subsidiary of the Pacific Coast Company, who marketed "Diamond" brand Portland cement throughout the Puget Sound region.

In 1984, Ash Grove Cement Company bought the Seattle plant from Lone Star. The raw grinding and kiln systems were shut down and the facility was used to grind clinker and distribute cement. The finish grinding facilities were shut down in 1987 and only the cement distribution operation continued. Other Ash Grove manufacturing facilities supplied the cement.

In August of 1990, Ash Grove and F. L. Smidth Company successfully negotiated a turnkey modernization of the raw grinding and pyroprocessing systems. On August 31, 1990, ground breaking on the new project began. The old raw grinding facilities were torn down and replaced with a Fuller/Loesche mill. The old wet kilns were torn down and replaced with a new "state-of-the-art" preheater system. The rated capacity of the new kiln system is in excess of 2,200 tons of clinker per day, matching the capacity of the finish grinding mills.

The Seattle plant was first awarded the ENERGY STAR for plants in 2006 and maintained this status for 2007 and 2008. It regained ENERGY STAR status for 2015. Improvements in the past few years include the automation of the plant compressed air system, plant lighting upgrades and a 10% improvement in the efficiency of the cement mills.